4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.a y 5 Lovez the Lord your God with all your hearta and with all your soul and with all your strength.b 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.c 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.d 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.e 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.f

10 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,g 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig,h and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,i 12 be careful that you do not forgetj the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13 Fear the Lordk your God, serve him onlyl and take your oathsm in his name.n 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your Godo, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not put the Lord your God to the testp as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keepq the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.r 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight,s so that it may go wellt with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19 thrusting out all your enemiesu before you, as the Lord said.

20 In the future, when your son asks you,v “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.w 22 Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God,x so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.y 25 And if we are careful to obey all this lawz before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.a”

Driving Out the Nations

7 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possessb and drives out before you many nationsc—the Hittites,d Girgashites,e Amorites,f Canaanites, Perizzites,g Hivitesh and Jebusites,i seven nations larger and stronger than you—2 and when the Lord your God has deliveredj them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroyk them totally.a l Make no treatym with them, and show them no mercy.n 3 Do not intermarry with them.o Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods,p and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroyq you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah polesb r and burn their idols in the fire.s 6 For you are a people holyt to the Lord your God.u The Lord your God has chosenv you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.w

7 The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerousx than other peoples, for you were the fewesty of all peoples.z 8 But it was because the Lord loveda you and kept the oath he sworeb to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty handc and redeemedd you from the land of slavery,e from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God;f he is the faithful God,g keeping his covenant of loveh to a thousand generationsi of those who love him and keep his commandments.j 10 But

those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction;

he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.k

11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.